Live data from Hacker News

We created a fake language to root out resume liars

facebook.com

371–380 of 771 posts

Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars

#371
post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At my last job I wasn't micro- but nano-managed - the "project manager" sometimes sat next to me and looked at me while I was debugging code. The IT sector definitely has its share of morons.

Next time that happens ask him/her to bring you a coffee, works most of the time...and you can have e little "secret" chuckle.

Great advice. Another variation on that is just getting them to look something up for you that is at least tangentially related to your work. Anything where they are now helping you changes the power dynamic and will make them super uncomfortable.

A good project manager will be confident in their position and in doing whatever they can to help the project and won't mind. But that type of person wouldn't be looking over your shoulder unless invited.

Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars

#372

> That way, when candidates were pitched to us with "X years of MOVA experience", we knew that somebody was full of it. I'd put my money on the recruiter. I once had an excruciatingly awkward interview at a company on an industrial estate in the middle of nowhereland with no train station nearby that took me bloody ages to get to… which was actually going well until they asked me about my long experience with Exchang…

Had the almost exact same experience, but with Java. I'm a C# developer and although I have some experience with Java, I don't have enough to list it as a skill on my CV. Anyways, in this interview I was being asked about Java and I answered every question by saying I don't really know Java. The interviewers were obviously getting annoyed. So I asked "Sorry, I thought this was a C# job?". No, it was a Java job and ma…

I had a recruiter say "XML and UML are basically the same, right?".

There's almost a dangerous level of knowledge among some recruiters where they think they know enough to do crap like this.

Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars

#373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. Sales is sales is sales. It’s a pretty harsh world. If you’ve been a solid performer for years, maybe you can miss one monthly quota. Lots of abuse.

I used to know a chap who was a successful partner at a top UK law firm - he had a very successful run of work that lasted for years and made a lot of money for everyone. However, eventually he it came to an end and he had a less than successful month - he got the same bollocking about performance as everyone else, and in front of his entire team too. Some organisations are just run like that.

the thing with sales is one you develop a sales skill and network - you go and set up your own shop and become an equity owner. consider sales as a learning experience to set up your own shop

Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars

#374
post #316

Until recently I was never part of the hiring process at any company because I was simply too new. I always thought how it was insane that people would say "I only spend 30 seconds on each resume", that I would somehow be better and do a more thoughtful analysis of the candidate. Boy was I wrong, the amount of resume you can get for a job is crazy and most candidates are absolutely not a good fit. I even had one pers…

Or they (or a recruiter) sent in an old resume...

Frankly it's a one letter typo so I'd be inclined to believe the person just made a mistake, but at the same time the only way this resume got to me was because the LinkedIn profile on the resume was impressive, much more so than the resume itself.

Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars

#375

> That way, when candidates were pitched to us with "X years of MOVA experience", we knew that somebody was full of it. I'd put my money on the recruiter. I once had an excruciatingly awkward interview at a company on an industrial estate in the middle of nowhereland with no train station nearby that took me bloody ages to get to… which was actually going well until they asked me about my long experience with Exchang…

Reading all these replies and - what the hell? Are recruiters really that common? Are bad recruiters really that common? I wasn't aware this was even a thing.

Having been in the software business for nearly 20 years I can state that from my own experiences, recruiters are overwhelmingly bad.

The thing is that there are big incentives for the recruiters. Where I live (Dublin) the recruiters finders fee would be around 30% of the candidates salary. In IT that could be a fair whack of money. That sort of incentive can cause some peoples morals to loosen a bit.

Here are some of my experiences...

Recruiters editing my CV to make me look more skilled or possessing skills I don't have.

Editing my CV so that it contains the right information, but the formatting has been destroyed and it looks terrible.

Costing me a job opportunity when I applied direct to a company and because I was on a recruiters system they demanded a fee when they learned I was made an offer. Because the recruiter threatened legal action, the company withdrew the offer.

Calling at me at work. Even on occasions calling me via the company switchboard.

Arranging interviews without my consent.

A recruiter shouting at me for cancelling an interview because I was running a 39 degree fever.

Taking my LinkedIn profile data and creating profiles on their own systems. I added a fake job to my profile to weed those ones out.

Individual recruiters taking my data from one company to the next when they themselves changed employers.

Refusing to delete my data from their systems forcing me to go to the Data Protection Commissioner.

When I went self-employed they started calling me asking if I would hire one of their candidates. Even though I said I was a one man operation and would stay that way - they kept calling.

One recruiter calling my wife when I blocked their number.

Of course different peoples experiences may vary, but in my case I can honestly say I have never had a good experience with an IT recruiter.

Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars

#378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"and there is no incentive to do so. " Still, after the accident some of the engineers went for a literal suicide mission to open some ventil to make it all less catastrophic. And unlike the poor construction workers, who died, too, they knew what they were doing. I doubt they did it just for the postmortal fame. Some people have actually moral standards and can stand by it, even if it means disadvantages.

Absolutely, but the events are not comparable. Sacrafice at Chernobyl might save thousands, sacrafice at %xcorp% saves a fat bonus for the guy responsible for the whole mess in the first place!

if anything saving that man's bonus, just mean that you endorse/enable such practices.

Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars

#380
post #87
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do they offer that?

It demonstrates that the client actually read the contract.

If they'd made the clause a kickback and they'd have gotten 100% uptake.

Discounts after the contract is approved are actually a headache in some large orgs. You will have to answer multiple questions each quarter as to why your numbers are off. You won't get to spend the money elsewhere, but will have more work. Plus, you'll never get budget approval for buying or shipping a plant.

Post reply on HN